and by them deliberation is carried out, as Allah says: “Have they not travelled through the land so that they might have hearts with which to reason, or ears with which to hear? Indeed, it is not the eyes that become blind, but the hearts within the breasts that become blind” (Al-Hajj 22:46).

Exalted is Allah! It is as though this verse were sent down for the people of our own day—indeed, for people in every age. The question is: is the seat of intellect in the brain, or is it in the heart?

This problem has bewildered many thinkers who look at matters only through a material lens and never refer to what Allah the Exalted and His Messenger ﷺ have said. Otherwise, the truth is perfectly clear: reason resides in the heart, and the heart is in the chest. Allah says, “Have they not travelled through the land so that they might have hearts with which to reason…,” and He says, “Indeed, it is not the eyes that become blind, but the hearts within the breasts that become blind” (Al-Hajj 22:46). He did not say, “the hearts that are in the skulls”; He said, “within the breasts.” The matter, then, is crystal clear: intellect is located in the heart. This is supported by the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “Truly, in the body there is a morsel of flesh; if it is sound, the entire body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the entire body is corrupt. Verily, it is the heart.”

What, then, of an issue attested to by the Book of Allah—the Creator who knows all things—and by the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ? Our obligation in the face of that is to set aside every claim that contradicts the Book of Allah